Finmeccanica Technologies for NATO AGS Programme

The first NATO Alliance Surveillance aircraft, a Global Hawk Block 40, will watch over the European skies also thanks to Finmeccanica technologies. Selex ES participates in the NATO AGS (Alliance Ground Surveillance) programme providing the Mission Operation Support (MOS) and two Transportable General Ground Stations (TGGS) for the NATO AGS ground segment. Six Mobile General Ground Stations (MGGS) developed by Airbus are also part of the segment. Selex ES will also deliver the Wide Band Data Link (WBDL) which provides line-of-sight communication between the ground segment and the system’s unmanned aerial vehicles.

The aircraft, rolled out in a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Corporation’s aircraft integration centre in Palmdale, CA, will be part of the NATO AGS system which comprises air, ground, mission operation and support elements. It will perform all-weather, persistent, wide-area terrestrial and maritime surveillance in near real-time. The system will help protect ground troops and civilian populations, improve border control and maritime safety, help with the fight against terrorism and enhance crisis management and humanitarian assistance operations in response to natural disasters.

The NATO AGS system’s air segment will include five unmanned Global Hawk Block 40 aerial systems and their control station (AVMC2). The ground segment will comprise a number of ground stations in various configurations which will provide data-link connectivity, data-processing and exploitation capabilities and interfaces for interoperability with C2ISR systems. The support segment will provide dedicated mission support facilities at the AGS main operating base (MOB) in Sigonella, Italy.

NATO AGS will be deployed for operation from 2017. The main operating site at Sigonella Air Base will serve a dual purpose as a NATO Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JISR) deployment base and a data exploitation and training centre.